Developer David Chase arrested after refusing to leave strip club

The Nashville real estate developer at the center of courthouse intrigue two years ago was arrested again early Friday morning for public intoxication after police said he refused to leave a downtown strip club at 4:30 a.m.

David Chase was charged and booked at the Nashville jail on Friday, but his charge was later administratively dismissed, which is typical for public intoxication charges.

Chase was booked into the jail at 5:43 a.m. and released at 12:21 p.m. Chase, 39, had been set to be arraigned on the case Monday at 1:30 p.m.

According to an arrest warrant, officers responded to Deja Vu at 1214 Demonbreun Street after an employee told officers a group of people were congregating outside in the parking lot.

Officers confronted one of the people in the group, identified as Chase. Police said he smelled of alcohol, had red, watery eyes and was unsteady on his feet, the warrant states.

Police said they asked Chase to leave the property several times, but he refused. As arresting officers approached him, the warrant continues, he turned to walk away from them.

“Due to (the) level of the defendant's intoxication, he could not take reasonable care of himself as he had not summoned transportation off the property," the warrant states.

Chase was held on $500 bond.

Online court records show Chase was scheduled to appear before Judge Casey Moreland to be arraigned on Monday. Prosecutors say it is routine for public intoxication charges to be dismissed.

"Public intox cases are administratively dismissed after eight hours," Moreland said. "We, as judges, never see them. They do not appear in court nor do they appear on a docket. The judge doesn’t sign an order of any kind."

Chase was arrested on domestic violence charges in 2014 but the charges were dropped in 2015. Then in June 2016 a DUI charge he faced from 2014 was also dropped.

The case was filed by Chase in June in the ongoing legal fallout from his arrest on domestic violence charges in June 2014. Chase said in his lawsuit that he was forced by Funk to drop a related lawsuit about how Metro police handled that case and says the prosecutors spread false information about him.

In the 2014 case, Moreland came under fire for releasing Chase, who was arrested for domestic assault, before the legally required 12-hour cooling off period. Chase was later arrested a second time the same day for assault, but the District Attorney's Office dropped the charges.

Moreland was rebuked by the state board that investigates judicial misconduct after it was discovered the judge had spoken to Chase's attorney, who was a close personal friend, before Chase was released from jail in 2014.

Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at 615-259-8072 and follow her on Twitter@nataliealund.